Intentions to Marry, 1896 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840410, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 11 2025

1896 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 214

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1896

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
214	2 July 1896	Ernest Samuel Knight Frances Falloon	Ernest Samuel Knight Frances Falloon 💍 1896/2067	Bachelor Widow	Carpenter	22 36	Wellington Wellington	3 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/2837		2 July 1896	W. T. Wyatt
215	3 July 1896	Thomas William Readman Brooker Mary Elizabeth Burns	Thomas William Readman Brooker Mary Elizabeth Burns 💍 1896/2101	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	24 24	Wellington Wellington	years	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace	96/2875		3 July 1896	Rev. J. K. Ellery
216	4 July 1896	James Kennedy Letitia Matthews	James Kennedy Letitia Matthews 💍 1896/2068	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	39 35	Wellington Wellington	5 days years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/2838		4 July 1896	W. T. Wyatt
217	4 July 1896	Arthur Edward Brothers Edith Marion Cross	Arthur Edward Foothead Edith Marion Cross 💍 1896/2049	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	25 27	Wellington Wellington	years	House of Mr. Constable, Thorndon Quay	96/2924		4 July 1896	Rev. Joseph Ward
218	4 July 1896	David Livingston Auckland Ethel Delacy Peckham	David Livingston McWhirter Ethel May Pickard 💍 1896/2302	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	21 18	Petone Wainuiomata	years	House of Mr. Peckham, Petone	96/2917	Mr. Peckham, father	4 July 1896	Rev. A. Thomson
219	6 July 1896	William Wallace Elizabeth Emma Purvis	William Wallace Elizabeth Emma Purvis 💍 1896/3570	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	27 23	Wellington Wellington	1 year	St. Andrew's Church, Terrace	96/4631		6 July 1896	Rev. C. G. Ogg
220	6 July 1896	Colin Francis Post Annie McGregor	Collin Francis Post Annie McGregor 💍 1896/2052 George Alexander Crompton Anne McGregor 💍 1896/1368	Bachelor Spinster	Master Mariner	37 21	Wellington Wellington	years	St. Mark's Church	96/2927		6 July 1896	Rev. R. Coffey
221	6 July 1896	Arthur Buckland Annie Boon	Arthur Buckland Harris Annie Boon 💍 1896/2086	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 21	Wellington Wellington	years	St. John's Church, Woolcombe Street	96/2883		6 July 1896	Rev. J. Paterson
222	6 July 1896	James Welsh Agnes Gemmell	James Welsh Minnie Dinneen 💍 1896/2303	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	26 25	Wellington Wellington	1 month	House of Mrs. Wallace, Evans Bay	96/2918		6 July 1896	Rev. John Muirhead
223	6 July 1896	William Francis Pointon Elizabeth Brown Walker	William Francis Pointon Elizabeth Brown Walker 💍 1896/2069	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 16	Petone Wellington	years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/2839	James Walker, father	6 July 1896	W. T. Wyatt
224	6 July 1896	Henry Hawkey Henrietta Barnes	Henry Hawkey Henrietta Barnes 💍 1896/2299	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman	26 22	Wellington Wellington	years	House of Mr. Croft, Abel Smith Street	96/2914		6 July 1896	Mr. A. T. Turner
225	9 July 1896	Alfred Walter Fletcher Mary Alice Davies	Alfred Walter Fitchell Mary Alice Davies 💍 1896/2290	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	34 28	Wellington Wellington	1 week 1 month	House of Mrs. Davies, Home Street	96/2906		9 July 1896	Rev. C. Dallaston
226	9 July 1896	George William Houchin Sarah Lindsay	George William Stanchen Sarah Lindsay 💍 1896/2304	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	20 18	Wellington Wellington	years	House of Mr. Lindsay, Hanson Street	96/2919	John Lindsay, father	9 July 1896	Rev. H. B. Reastone
227	9 July 1896	Joseph Arthur Condell Sarah Elizabeth Beecher	Joseph Arthur Conder Sarah Elizabeth Beatrice Smith 💍 1896/2291	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	22 20	Wellington Wellington	years	House of Mrs. Green, Tasman Street	96/2907	Rosina Green, mother	9 July 1896	Rev. C. Dallaston
228	10 July 1896	Frederick William Horne Annabel Smith	Frederick William Horne Annabel Smith 💍 1896/2070	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	29 24	Wellington Wellington	years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/2840		10 July 1896	W. T. Wyatt

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).